Panelists: Clips and Lucky Breaks Make the Job

By Connect Mason Asst. News Director Rashad Mulla

Over 35 George Mason University students and faculty attended the Careers in Writing & Editing Panel, held on March 27 in the Johnson Center’s meeting room A.

Six professionals from writing, editing and communication fields, five of them Mason alumni, shared their career paths with the audience during the event sponsored by the english and communication departments.

“The concept of getting a job can be very daunting,” said Ken Guerrant of University Career Services. “A lot of students are somewhat mystified about getting into their [fields].”

The speakers stressed the importance of networking and interning before trying to land a full-time job after graduation. For some, these strategies became moot in the face of a lucky break.

Michelle Katz, host of the cable television show “Today’s Health,” said she always considered herself a bad writer, but she kept practicing by writing for student news organizations. Katz, who studied public administration and nursing while at Mason, took a winding road to become a healthcare expert.

After being injured in a car accident, Katz was able to get through the health care system with ease, accumulating minimal medical bills. She met a publisher who was interested in her story, so she wrote books that gave tips on how to save money on healthcare.

The advice she gave during the panel came from her personal experiences.

“Do something you’re passionate about,” she said. “There are so many people in journalism. Make yourself different.”

Unlike Katz, Amy Rosewater always had a knack for writing, and she knew it.

Her career path started at Northwestern University, where she wrote for her school paper. While Rosewater was always passionate about sports, she never wrote any articles for the sports section of the paper. At the end of her junior year, she covered a rugby meeting and her career took off.

She worked for seven years as a sports reporter with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, after completing an internship with the Chicago Sun-Times sports department. Now, as a freelancer, her writing appears in The Washington Post, ESPN.com and many other outlets.

The other panel members included:

• Ken Budd, travel editor of AARP The Magazine
• Jonathan Lawhead, principal of Summer Productions, Inc.
• Elaina Loveland, managing editor of The International Educator
• Roxana Schoen, documentation team lead at MicroStrategy, Inc.

All the panelists agreed that building up a collection of clips to show potential employers was the most important aspect of getting a job or internship. Budd said some editors do not even look at resumes or academic achievement.

“When I interviewed for my first [job], the only clips I had were two concert reviews from the Broadside,” Budd said. “And thank goodness I had them.”

Given the diminishing numbers of print news jobs available, Rosewater recommends focusing on alternate news outlets, such as online news.

“There’s still going to be a need for reporters,” Rosewater said. “Just not in print form.”